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$100 is nothing! I spent $96 on a batch of eggs to have only one chick hatch, which the cat ate!
$20 each bird isn't bad...really. You have yourself an almost mature flock that you can eventually breed. I say you are ahead of the game.
Have I meantioned I work in a low paying job and that $100 represents over 10 hours of work? I don't make $96 a DAY so spending that much on one batch of eggs is out of my league.
So far I have been very lucky with hatches. *knock, knock on wood* The eggs I have set right now are mystery eggs. I don't even know if they are fertile, but they are home grown, so no money has been spent, if they don't hatch.
Someone commented that they would be glad to get their chickens for $20 each. I think they missed the part where I got all these as CHICKS...some only 1 week old....so I don't feel like I got a bargin....I got what I paid for, assuming they EVER lay. I
have been feeding them, waterering them and cleaning up after them for 6 months so far...oh, and I have over $50 in medication cuz they were not overly healthy when I got them.
I am with you Cass. We don't make $90 a day either. I have $120 into buying 7 birds - not including the $140 in gas to drive and pick them up. I was expecting to at least get some of my money returned in month or two - I thought I set the bar low. Well, I didn't know this was limbo, because my bar was still to high. I have gotten 2 eggs out of 6 hens/pullets in a month. One never hatched, the other one I check ed for a bullseye and ate it. Pretty expensive breakfast that morning - it didn't taste any different than the eggs laid by my
TSC purchased $2.50/ea pullet's egg. It was a bit hard to swallow, though.
I like my Ameraucanas, but I think I picked the wrong breed. I should have stuck with Cochins and Orps.